Song of Death
by lilswmr427
Summary: More onto the ending of the novel The Pearl by John Steinbeck.


An Intro to Lit assignment I had and I thought I would post. We had to write chapter 7 in any way that we would like. Hope you enjoy!

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><p>"How much did you get for it?" Juan Tomás asked, coming into the house and sitting down next to Kino. He just glared at his brother. "Sorry… I was just wondering…. "<p>

Kino got up and walked away. The pearl continued to give him bad fortune, even after it had been thrown out into the ocean. "The Song of Evil" and the "Song of the Pearl" sang to Kino. Just three days ago, Kino came back from the town to find his wife Juana hanging from the loop of a rope tied around a palm tree. Kino had no partner and no son. Kino felt the knife he still had beneath his shirt with drops of blood still etched into its surface.

Kino was striding down the dirt roadway on a mission. The neighbors all dropped everything they were doing and turned to look at him. Kino had not been outside for weeks now. Rumors about why he had come back without Coyotito mainly subsided, and very few people had actually guessed the truth.

Kino tripped and fell into a large gap in the road, dug up by one of the small children. His knife scratched against his skin. A few drops of crimson red could be seen staining themselves into Kino's dirty white shirt. Still, he got up and strode onward.

By this time, he had now entered the town. Kino's gaze was etched perfectly forward and never deviated from straight ahead of him once. There was one thing in front of him that would haunt him for the rest of his life: the doctor's house. Kino rapped on the gate and the attendant came forward.

"Here to pay the doctor, I suppose?"

Kino completely ignored him and strode right past him up to the house. "The Song of Evil" rang loudly in his head with the faint "Song of the Family" chirping in the background. He swung the door open with such great force that if you were standing behind it you would be knocked unconscious. There was a long hallway with many doors until you reached the end. At the end was an arch leading into the living room. This room contained the doctor. Kino marched forward into the room.

"Ah, yes. Here to pay me my sum, are you?" The doctor said, leaning back in his plush armchair.

"No." Kino simply stated, speaking for the first time after he saw Juana's drooping body hanging from the rope. Kino walked over to the doctor and pulled out his knife from his shirt. "You are evil, and you will pay." The doctor just gave him a confused look as Kino proceeded to glide his knife across the doctor's throat. He coughed out blood three times before passing away.

"Curse the pearl which is like water, because without it, my life was a budding flower. Water a little and it grows to be beautiful, but overdo it and it ruins the beauty." Kino kicked the doctor's side. He was dead. Kino walked over to the doctor's desk where a wad of dollar bills was sitting, just wailing out at him to take it and spend them. The money went right into his pocket without a second thought. Kino walked out of the door and into the fading sunlight.

The people on the street once again turned to watch Kino walk down the street. His hands were still coated with the doctor's fire brick red blood. Kino did not even so much as glance at the people watching him. They did not dare shout out to talk to him.

Finally, he reached Juan Tomás' home. Kino set the dollar bills on the table and walked down the hallway to the space that his brother had kindly lent to him. He folded the blanket lying over his small mat and set it carefully on the table. Kino once again exited the home and into the small area between his house and the neighbors.

Kino looked around and up into the sky. A small tear slipped out of the corner of his eye as he thought of his son and his wife. Two new songs erupted: "The Song of Yearning" and "The Song of Death". The pearl would no longer cause him suffering. Kino plunged the knife into his heart, just like the pearl had plunged directly into his soul.

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><p>AN Thanks for reading! Review!


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